At last, the decorating is almost finished – but decorating is not stitching, so no pictures here of the completed masterpiece that is our home. We ‘went neutral’, somewhat under protest, in the hope that when we do put the house on the market again, it might appeal to more people. While I was busy – and pretty much exhausting myself in the process – I’m afraid I was unable to keep up with the blogs I usually read, so please accept my apologies for my absence. I’ll try to catch up.

During the massive spring clean, I found a couple of sketchbooks from a textiles course I took in 2006. They were tucked away at the very back of a cupboard we hardly ever go in, so every time we look it’s full of surprises. It’s always interesting to look back on past work, particularly studies. The ghost of the person you used to be sometimes has something to say.

Freedom: Sketchbook cover 12" x 12"

What I find most interesting is the amount of machine work I was doing. The front of this cover is made from layered fabrics with squares of distressed kunin felt over tissuetex in the centre. Even the word ‘freedom’ (the chosen topic) is machined. Who’d have thought it?

Detail of sketchbook cover: kunin felt over tissuetex with seed beads

The back cover is of similar construction, but with snake skin included as a fabric. At that time, one of our friends bred corn snakes and pythons, and he gave me a couple of skins that had been shed. I wondered at the time how well they would wear, and the answer seems to be that they wear just fine.

Freedom sketchbook back cover: layered fabrics with snakeskin

As I flick through the sketchbook, there are some pages that I quite like, and others that are just really bad. I think I’ll dismantle it, keeping anything that might be of value and reusing the rest. I plan to work a little more on paper over the next few weeks: (can you believe) more painting, but of a different kind. My hand has kind of got used to holding a paintbrush again.